Honorees

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Year Honored
2001
Honoree
James M Hickman
Agency
Goldsboro Rescue & EMS
Agency City
Goldsboro
Agency State
NC
Last Call
3/28/76
Cause of Death
Other Trauma
Biography
Each time a call for help is sounded, and rescue men and women respond, it may possibly be a call that could bring danger and even death to those responding. Yet, men and women all over the world respond.<br /> <br /> James Hickman was among fellow rescuers attempting to pull three fishermen to safety when their boat capsized killing Hickman. The three fishermen and the rescue worker drowned on March 28, 1976. The incident occurred when the fisherman came too close to the turbulent suction of the swirling waters below Fish Ladder Dam on the Neuse River southwest of Goldsboro in North Carolina. When the call came in, rescue workers from the Goldsboro Rescue and EMS responded. The rescue rope was thrown to the three fishermen who were clinging to the side of their overturned boat. They were told by Hickman to grab it one at a time; however, the fishermen panicked, grabbing the rope simultaneously. "We started going forward toward the dam. The men were pulling the rope. The boat was in reverse. It hit the dam and filled half way with water," stated Keith Harris, a member of the rescue team who was able to swim away. "The men were told to go to the front of the boat, but they started climbing to the rear. Our boat capsized. We were all thrown in. I saw that James had injured his head as he slid under the water," said Harris.<br /> <br /> James Hickman was an Emergency Medical Technician for the Goldsboro Rescue and EMS in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The James Hickman Memorial Award was established in his memory, and an education memorial fund bearing his name was set up for the education of his sons by the Goldsboro Rescue and EMS.<br /> <br /> James Hickman, 35, is survived by his wife Alice Jones Hickman, and two sons Jimmy and Timmy Hickman, of the home.<br /> <br /> Honored 2001